Sony Achieves Record High Earnings Due to COVID-19 Demand... Net Profit Expected to Surpass 11 Trillion Won

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki-min Lee] Japanese electronics company Sony is expected to achieve record-high performance due to the COVID-19 boom.

According to Nihon Keizai and others on the 3rd, Sony announced on the 3rd that its consolidated net profit for the 2020 fiscal year (April 2020 to March 2021) is expected to increase by 86.4% from the previous year to 1.085 trillion yen (approximately 11.5249 trillion KRW).

This is 285 billion yen (36%) higher than the 800 billion yen forecasted in October last year. The sales and operating profit forecasts were also revised upward from 8.5 trillion yen and 700 billion yen to 8.8 trillion yen and 940 billion yen, respectively.

If the forecast holds, Sony will surpass an annual net profit of 1 trillion yen for the first time.

The spread of COVID-19 increased the time consumers spent at home, leading to expanded demand for game-related devices such as the PlayStation, which contributed to Sony's profit growth.

In fact, looking at the performance by sector, the increase in sales of game software as well as network services such as music streaming was remarkable.

Sales in this sector are expected to increase by about 33% compared to the previous year in 2020.

The unprecedented popularity of the animated film "Gwi-myeol-ui Kalnal" (Demon Slayer), distributed with involvement from a Sony affiliate, also contributed to the improved performance. "Gwi-myeol-ui Kalnal" surpassed 32.4 billion yen in box office revenue last year, overtaking "Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi" (Spirited Away), which earned 31.6 billion yen, and became the highest-grossing film in Japanese history.